London will need to provide more buses if it’s to meet the forecasted demand for public transport services.

This is the verdict of a new report from the London Assembly, released today, which calls for a greater number of services running around the capital.

The report warns that buses will become more crowded without action from Transport for London and Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

Cityam.com highlights that bus trips around London increased by 64 per cent up to 2.3 billion between 1999-2012. This would have been promising news for the local economy had the capital’s population not grown at a much faster rate over the same period.

The number of people living in London rose from 7.15 million in 1999 to 8.3 million last year. Whilst taking into account the rise in visitors to London, TfL predicts that bus journeys will grow seven per cent between 2013-2022.

As mayorwatch.co.uk states, the committee called on the TfL to demonstrate that its plan for the expansion of bus services can cope with the additional 167 million journeys by 2022.

“We need the government to continue to support our investment whilst we work hard to get the most out of the existing network and match capacity to passenger demand,” said TfL in its responding statement.